


floral

by brandywine421



Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: F/M, Family Secrets, Hanahaki Disease, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-09
Updated: 2019-07-11
Packaged: 2020-06-25 07:34:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19741114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brandywine421/pseuds/brandywine421
Summary: She closed her mouth and fidgeted with her sleeves in an unconscious mimic of her son. "Jack - it was cherry blossoms. When he passed, I was sick with roots and unopened buds for weeks - " she raised her fingers to the cross at her throat.Matt inherits something from his father.  A vague take on Hanahaki Disease.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> **Muse:** Sit down and write for a solid hour. Try and make it pretty. Don't worry about plot, just play with your style.
> 
> _One hour later:_
> 
> **Me:** Flowers are pretty. Totally counts.  
>  **Muse:** *slams door*

> A man drops to his knees.
> 
> A father drops his face into a sink filled with water.
> 
> A soldier drops his sword in a puddle of blood.
> 
> A woman screams.
> 
> A mother holds her son and tells him another lie.

* * *

"His name is Matthew."

She spun to find the voice of who dared speak out of turn but The Hand trained their soldiers well and none of the gathered leaders twitched or showed any expression. "How - "

"It is our job to monitor the health and welfare of The Black Sky. It is well known that you survived by leeching the humanity from your old life - " The elder was losing all the points.

"There was no _leeching_. I took nothing from him that was not willingly given. I let him keep only what he already owned," Elektra said. Matthew loved so deeply, the well of it had given her the strength to rise from the ashes.

"He is making you ill, which is making your soldiers weak. Tell us why he should be allowed to live."

"He loves another. He loves another that does not love him back," Elektra murmured aloud.

"So we kill _that_ one?" Maybe the elder could have one point but she was still probably going to eliminate him later.

One of the minions shifted and she flicked her finger to give the woman permission to speak. "How do you know he's not pining for you, Great and Honored Black Sky?"

Her soldiers would have been sick with orchids if Matthew was mourning her loss. She taught him better than that. "No, I am connected to him, but he is not connected to me in the same way," Elektra said.

"But we are connected to you," the elder said. "This must be rectified - our ranks have been expanding and excelling under the new management, My Queen, but - "

"That's enough."

The elder bowed, and left a trail of petals when he took his place back in line.

Ugh. The Hand didn't deserve the curse of Matthew's love, she took that for herself, not for them. He was her strength, not her army's weakness. The sliver of his soul she'd taken from the ashes was **hers** , not theirs.

"I will make a call," she stated finally and dismissed her council.

* * *

"He was afflicted as a child," Sister Maggie stated.

"Excuse me?"

" _Afflicted_?"

Sister Maggie raised her chin, in defiance or denial, but Foggy gave zero shits right now about yelling at a nun. "I was not a part of his personal care, I didn't know - I wouldn't have allowed it."

"What did - how did they treat his 'affliction'?" Karen hissed.

She met Foggy's eyes. "They introduced him to a man named Stick. Paul - Father Lantom said Matthew never knew that he was - _afflicted_ , he didn't know they were flowers."

"Father Lantom told you?" Foggy didn't blink.

"When he found out, yes." She closed her mouth and fidgeted with her sleeves in an unconscious mimic of her son. "Jack - it was cherry blossoms. When he passed, I was sick with roots and unopened buds for weeks - " she raised her fingers to the cross at her throat.

"So - you caught it from Matt's father?" Karen asked, her voice much softer now.

She suddenly looked horribly small in the chair across from them. Her interrogation - or her confession - wasn't supposed to be this hard. Foggy knew she cared about Matt even if the past would always dim the effect.

"I thought it only happened with unrequited love, how would he have it as a kid?" Foggy asked.

Maggie looked away. "He lost his father, the only love he ever experienced and - Murdocks need to be - loved. Jack was always loved. I didn't - I don't know what Stick told him, what he taught him - but I never saw his flowers. Not until - they're not cherry blossoms."

" _Sister_ ," Karen said after the pause took too long.

"Roses. He's going to choke on the thorns," she whispered. "Please. He doesn't tell me enough to know - who's making him feel unloved, Foggy?"

"We're going to find out, but you should tell him - " he started.

"I tried, as soon as I mentioned his father he sent me here," she frowned.

* * *

"Red, you're ripping my heart out, you know that?"

He can't breathe, he's choking, he can't - get it out - "Please - "

Lips press against the back of his neck, a nose tickles his damp hair, and fingers pull the cluster of petals from his mouth with a whisper of sound against his skin.

"Like it wasn't hard enough to leave you behind after - "

He coughs up a full rosebud, he can taste the shape against his tongue. "Do you know what's happening to me?"

"I think you should have told me that you might miss me before I threw up a bouquet halfway to Biloxi."

* * *


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Muse** : Sorry about before, friends again?  
>  **Me** : Nope, I'm a thousand words deep in werewolves right now, I took the pledge.  
>  **Muse** : Thank you for not texting and driving but this is about the flowers.  
>  **Me** : Oh, did that happen already?  
>  **Muse** : It doesn't make any sense. Will you dedicate an hour or so to make it better?  
>  **Me:** And then werewolves?  
> 

* * *

"What are you doing?"

She doesn't know this man - this battered man with his bruised hands on her son's bare flesh - this man who has no understanding -

"Why isn't he getting better?" the man snarls at her, lips stained with red - rose red.

"Did you get better?" she asks, shaking the steel back into her nerves and moving toward the bed.

"Soon as I hit the state line, _yeah_ ," the man replies, not taking his hands off Matthew when she checks his feverish forehead and takes the bowl of fresh flowers from his lap. "How is he this sick? I was only gone - "

"You _left_ him?"

Emotion flares in the stranger's eyes. "Not forever, I had something to do out of town - "

She doesn't know why but she feels like it's more than that. "Did he know that you were coming back?"

* * *

Karen knew Foggy wanted to see Matt after Sister Maggie's visit but they needed to follow up her leads first. She had given them a lot of information with little to no background without Father Lantom to fill in the blanks.

She never thought she'd be 'taking it up a level' inside the Catholic church but she hoped the elderly nun that came down at Sister Maggie's call would be able to fill in some blanks they desperately needed filled.

"You were here when Matt moved in?" Foggy asked after introductions and titles were exchanged.

Mother Superior nodded, leading them deeper inside the orphanage offices. "And long before."

"So you knew when he got - the 'affliction'," Karen picked up, hating the word.

"We didn't tell Sister Maggie about Matthew's illness at the time, she was still recovering from the shock herself," the old woman said. "It would have been a scandal to have a nun and a ward both suffering the same affliction - they would have quarantined the whole place. Back then, people still thought it was contagious."

Karen almost raised her hand before speaking but reconsidered. "So it's not?"

"It's hereditary - it only affected the carrier's love match, as far as we knew," Mother Superior muttered, pushing open a door and shuffling aside to give them entry to a small garden.

"I didn't know this was here," Karen said. She had found Matt all over the grounds when he called for a ride but this was - new.

"It's a place we use for private reflection," Mother Superior said. Foggy made his way to the center of the lush green space and stared up at a cherry tree in full bloom.

"This is out of season, right?" Foggy asked.

The nun didn't reply immediately, looking slightly haunted. "This is Sister Maggie's tree."

Karen tried to parse what that meant. "Roots and buds," she said aloud.

Mother Superior nodded, carefully touching one of the branches. "She was very ill. One of the priests suggested we try this and - she was healed."

"Jack was always loved," Foggy repeated from Sister Maggie's confession.

Karen turned back to the old woman. "She said Matt was sick, too, did you try - "

The nun motioned to the base of the tree where there were beds of green spikes with colorful flowers sprouting from the shafts. "Gladiolus. Sword lilies."

"If this healed Sister Maggie, why didn't that fix Matt? Why did you send him with Stick?" Foggy asked sharply.

Mother Superior winced. "He was a _child_ , and all we knew about the affliction was for love matches - he - came highly recommended at the time. We assumed his treatment worked and the blooms were an after-effect."

She felt sick. "Gladiolus - strength and morality of character," Foggy read off his phone. "Well, as if we needed any more proof of how much he loved his dad."

"There have been studies so we know a lot more now," the nun said, moving to the wall of the hidden garden to display a nest of yellow mums.

Karen didn't need to google to remember what yellow chrysanthemums stood for. "Sorrow."

The nun nodded solemnly. "Matthew didn't inherit this gene from his _father_. Sister Maggie came to us with a broken heart, we never considered why Jack didn't get sick. When Jack passed, it was her second round with the affliction. She was grieving the loss of her son the first time and we didn't understand until she lost Jack for good - we know _more_ now."

"Oh wow, this is - a lot. Does she know?" Foggy asked.

"She doesn't take her reflection here anymore but she is _aware_ ," Mother Superior said. "We noticed last year that some of the chrysanthemums are white instead of yellow."

Foggy already had his phone out from the sword lilies. "White - that means loyalty and honesty."

"Why doesn't she come anymore?" Karen whispered.

"Matthew visits her faithfully," the elderly nun replied simply.

* * *

"Black Sky."

"Iron Fist. Can we dismiss with the pleasantries and death threats and get to the point?" Elektra asked, appreciating the dull shock on the spoiled brat's face. At least he didn't have his girlfriend with him, the tall rich guy would be much easier to detain if there were problems.

"What do you want, Elektra?" Rand asked, power leaking through his voice.

She was mildly impressed. He'd improved. She wondered what he had lost to earn the newfound strength? Oh wait, she didn't care. "Matthew is sick."

"Oh really? Something to do with _flowers_ , perhaps?" the other one asked, ignoring Rand's glare.

Several of her minions pulled their weapons but the man held up his hands and smirked when several others coughed out bursts of red petals.

"Wait. What does - _that_ \- have to do with Matt?" Danny asked. Ugh, she didn't want to think of him as 'Danny', what had Matthew infected her with?

"He needs to accept the one that he loves. Preferably soon," Elektra said.

Danny paused, sharp eyes skimming across her face. "Did you do something to him?"

"Or * **take** * something that wasn't yours?" Danny's friend asked.

" _Ward_ ," Danny warned.

She raised her chin and addressed the man. "I took nothing that was not freely given."

"Love is one thing, you wouldn't be sick if you just took his 'love'," Ward fired back with an anger that she didn't expect. What did this man know of her and Matthew?

"Dude," Danny hissed. "Share with the class?"

"His spirit keeps her strong, keeps her minions loyal - but not when it's broken, is that it?" Ward demanded. "He's in love with someone else and it's killing you."

"I am already dead," Elektra reminded him. "My chance at life and love is gone, buried - but this is killing him and that - that's unacceptable."

Danny grabbed his friend's arm to silence him. "What do you want from us?"

"I cannot go to him," she said. "He would not understand."

"He'd make you give back what you took," Ward snapped.

Danny glanced at her. "No, he probably wouldn't. He already tried to die for her," he murmured. "He'd do anything for her."

"He never choked my lungs with orchids," Elektra frowned. "Perhaps things would have been different if he were mourning for me."

"He'll mourn you forever, you ungrateful - " Danny started and Ward had to shift to take his arm instead.

"We'll check in on your ex because he's Danny's friend, not because you asked us to," Ward said. "We'll be sure to put your name on the 'get well soon' bouquet."

She wanted to fire back an insult or an order but could only turn her head to spit out the blasted roses tumbling out of her mouth.

* * *

He knows these hands, rough palms with heat pulsing under raw knuckles. "Frank?"

"Still here."

He doesn't remember, he remembers - he doesn't remember - "Where? You were - "

"That's the problem, is it? Fucking nun - "

"My mother's here?" He takes a breath and doesn't choke and risks movement - he doesn't vomit. "I'm at the church."

"She didn't mention the mother part but she's around. How do you feel?"

"Sick."

Frank's laugh warms something deep in his chest. "Yeah, there's something going around, Red."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Three hours later:_
> 
> **Me:** I had to Google stuff, soooo...  
>  **Muse** : Is it pretty?  
>  **Me:** Well, no, but there's a random Ward subplot and - 
> 
> **Muse** : *slams door*


End file.
